Ben Monder — Amorphae (October 30, 2015)♦↑♦ Jazz guitarist who is an heir to the ethereal yet edgy approach of players such as John Abercrombie and Bill Frisell.Born: May 24, 1962Origin: New York, U.S.Album release: October 30, 2015Record Label: ECMDuration: 44:56Tracks:01 Tendrils (Ben Monder) 5:2202 Oh, What A Beautiful Morning (Ben Monder, Paul Motian) 5:2303 Tumid Cenobite (Ben Monder, Andrew Cyrille) 4:5004 Gamma Crucis (Ben Monder, Pete Rende, Andrew Cyrille) 5:1505 Zythum (Ben Monder, Pete Rende, Andrew Cyrille) 7:0606 Triffids (Ben Monder, Paul Motian) 2:5607 Hematophagy (Ben Monder, Andrew Cyrille) 6:5808 Dinosaur Skies (Ben Monder) 7:06♦↑♦ Produced by Sun Chung♦↑♦ Tracks 2, 6, 8 recorded October 2010 at Sear Sound by James A. Farber♦↑♦ Tracks 1, 3, 4, 5, 7 recorded December 2013 at Brooklyn Recording by Rick KwanPersonnel:♦↑♦ Ben Monder: electric guitar, electric baritone guitar♦↑♦ Pete Rende: synthesizer♦↑♦ Andrew Cyrille: drums, percussion♦↑♦ Paul Motian: drumsDescription:♦↑♦ Guitarist Ben Monder first recorded for ECM as a member of the Paul Motian Band on Garden of Eden in 2004, and Amorphae was originally conceived as a series of duets for Ben and Paul. A first exploratory duo session was recorded in 2010. After Motians death the following year it was decided to expand and complete the project with another highly influential and innovative drummer, Andrew Cyrille, adding also Pete Rende on synthesizer on two pieces.♦↑♦ So here we hear Monder solo, in duo with Motian, in duo with Cyrille, and in trio with Cyrille and Rende. This range of expressive options casts light upon Monders musical concepts and their adaptability. A guitarists guitarist, Monder is also a master of texture and unusual voicings, creating what one reviewer has called detailed sonic landscapes of mystery and power.♦↑♦ All the music on Amorphae is his, apart from, Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin, the Rodgers & Hammerstein chestnut from the musical Oklahoma!, performed here by Monder and Motian. ♦↑♦ http://ben-monder.musicnewshq.com/Website: http://www.benmonder.com/Contact: email: ben@benmonder.comGear and Playing Style♦↑♦ Favouring a deep, dark tone with reverb via a Lexicon LXP–1 rack unit, he often splits his signal into two Fender Princeton tube amps. Distortion is a RAT pedal and lush chordal swells are achieved with an Ernie Ball volume pedal.♦↑♦ Among his trademarked techniques is a prodigious right hand fingerpicking style (at times not unlike that of Ralph Towner) that he utilizes in long, rhythmically elaborate solo guitar works. He is also capable of face–melting moments of shreddy, metal–inspired sheets of sound.♦↑♦ A characteristic trait of his phrasing is his emphasis on the triplet and its derivations. Long flowing eighth note triplet lines and related syncopations often outnumber strings of straight eighth notes. This use of displacement gives his improvisations a strong sense of forward motion.♦↑♦ Harmonically, he is fortunate to have hands that accommodate his adventurous chordal sense. He incorporates large stretches in order to voice chords with both close and wide intervallic structures, as well as exploiting open strings and drones. He also uses an expansive vocabulary of chord synonyms that allow him to use a given harmony (and related melodic structures) in more than one context.♦↑♦ ie: CminMaj7 = EbMaj7#5 = G7#5 = Amin7b5add9add11 = B7#5#9, etc…Words about Ben Monder:♦↑♦ “Ben Monder is a very evolved kind of musician — great chord voicing and just excellent playing.” — Pat Metheny♦↑♦ “A lot of people play well, but what stops me is if somebody’s got a musical concept that’s different. Ben Monder is a jazz guitarist, but he’s not playing any bebop phrasing at all. He’s made an album that reflects wide musical thinking and ability, and incorporated music from other places to create his own world. He’s got a very good right hand.” — Andy SummersDiscography:♦↑♦ Amorphae (ECM, 2015)♦↑♦ Hydra (Sunnyside, 2013)♦↑♦ Bloom, with Bill McHenry (Sunnyside, 2009)♦↑♦ At Night, with Theo Bleckmann (Songlines, 2007)♦↑♦ Oceana (Sunnyside, 2005)♦↑♦ Excavation (Arabesque, 2000)♦↑♦ No Boat, with Theo Bleckmann (Songlines, 1997)♦↑♦ Dust (Arabesque, 1997)♦↑♦ Flux (Songlines, 1995)♦↑♦ Right Brain Patrol, with Marc Johnson’s Right Brain Patrol (JMT, 1991)_____________________________________________________________